VA Disability Compensation: Is it For You?

According to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) data, many Veterans are unaware of VA’s disability compensation program.

Disability compensation is a monthly, tax-free payment designed to compensate Veterans for an injury or illness incurred or made worse from active military service, regardless of when they served. A disability can apply to physical conditions, such as a chronic knee condition, as well as mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Brad, an Army Veteran, finds the compensation he receives helps give him a better quality of life.

“Sometimes I can’t do the things that I used to because of my injuries. But the compensation helps out,” says Brad.

Service-disabled Veterans may also be entitled to health care, employment counseling and other benefits at no cost. For example, if your disability limits your mobility, you may qualify for a payment to buy or modify a vehicle to get around easier.

How to apply

One way for Veterans to start the application process is to enlist a person or an organization to help them with their claim. A Veterans Service Organization (VSO), claim agent or attorney can help Veterans determine which claim fits them best. Though this step is not required, most Veterans find that assistance from Veteran advocates make the process much easier by helping them prepare and submit their claim. VA provides additional resources and information here.

GREENBELT, Md. (Reuters) - A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant accused of amassing a cache of weapons and plotting to attack Democratic politicians and journalists was ordered held for two weeks on Thursday while federal prosecutors consider charging him with more crimes.

Attorneys for the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump asking the court to recognize the citizenship of an Alabama woman who left the U.S. to join ISIS and allow she and her young son to return to the United States.

U.S. soldiers surveil the area during a combined joint patrol in Manbij, Syria, November 1, 2018. Picture taken November 1, 2018. (U.S. Army/Zoe Garbarino/Handout via Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will leave "a small peacekeeping group" of 200 American troops in Syria for a period of time after a U.S. pullout, the White House said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump pulled back from a complete withdrawal.

With a legal fight challenge mounting from state governments over the Trump administration's use of a national emergency to construct at the U.S.-Mexico border, the president has kicked his push for the barrier into high gear.

On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted a time-lapse video of wall construction in New Mexico; the next day, he proclaimed that "THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW"

But there's a big problem: The footage, which was filmed more than five months ago on Sep. 18, 2018, isn't really new wall construction at all, and certainly not part of the ongoing construction of "the wall" that Trump has been haggling with Congress over.

A group comprised of former U.S. military veterans and security contractors who were detained in Haiti on weapons charges has been brought back to the United States and arrested upon landing, The Miami-Herald reported.

The men — five Americans, two Serbs, and one Haitian — were stopped at a Port-au-Prince police checkpoint on Sunday while riding in two vehicles without license plates, according to police. When questioned, the heavily-armed men allegedly told police they were on a "government mission" before being taken into custody.